All We Can Do
by Amarin Rose
Summary: Pairing: Quinn–Maggie Summary: Telepathy can cause problems. But problems aren't necessarily bad things...especially when a Mallory is involved.


**All We Can Do**

* * *

Another day, another world.

Another world, another **disaster**.

Well, it wasn't really a disaster, more like an **extremely** embarrassing situation, but then one think that by now they'd be used to those.

The world they'd slid into was similar to Psi World – what they'd all been calling the world where ten percent of the population had some sort of psychic powers. Here the powers were more prevalent, but they weren't inborn; instead, people drank a rather **interesting** tasting drink, and had them for twenty-four hours. One version gave you telepathy, one version telekinesis, one version both.

And that first version, at least, apparently worked just as well on outsiders as on natives.

"How was I supposed to know?" Quinn demanded.

Maggie was fuming, however, and not listening to reason. "I would think that by now you'd have learned not to accept strange drinks from strange women," she said tartly, trying to cover up her embarrassment with the situation by using anger.

"She handed them to all of us, and you drank some, too, Maggie," Quinn countered. "I don't even get why you're mad; most women seem to enjoy knowing men find them attractive."

"I don't normally have to fend off those kinds of 'compliments' from inside my own head!" she exclaimed. She glared down at him, his position on one of the beds in the room giving her ample opportunity to use intimidation tactics. It was just them in the hotel room; Wade and Remy were off exploring the town and they'd been left by themselves. Neither of the other two wanted to deal with them when they were like this.

"Well, neither of us got a full dose, so you'll only have to put up with my obviously unwanted feelings for you for another few hours!" Quinn shouted back, before reigning in his temper – and his wayward thoughts about how Maggie sure fit the cliché of 'beautiful when angry' to a T – and sighing. "Look, Maggie, I'm sorry you find the fact that I'm attracted to you offensive, but we're stuck with this now, and you getting upset isn't helping things."

"I can tell," she replied tartly.

He gave her an uncomprehending look. "Your mental control isn't as good as you think it is," she elucidated angrily. "Beautiful when I'm angry, huh?"

Manfully keeping a blush back by force of will alone, Quinn said, speaking before he could think, "Well, at least you're not getting any of the X-rated thoughts."

She froze. "There are **X-rated** thoughts about me in your head, Mallory?"

Quinn groaned. "Maggie, would you just give it a rest? I'm sure you've been in my position before; you know what it's like to have feelings for someone unattainable. And no matter what you do, certain thoughts come unbidden."

Maggie growled and turned away, but Quinn caught a glimmer of a thought from her: _Of course I do, but I never thought you were unattainable, just uninterested._

Blinking at this first instance of any clear musings from his now not-so-secret crush, Quinn asked, "Well, now that you know I'm **not** uninterested, why aren't you doing anything about it?"

Maggie jumped. Her cheeks flushed a rather pretty shade of rose, and she stammered, "I – I don't…"

"You don't?" Quinn asked teasingly. "Well, from what I just overheard, you **do** have feelings for me, Maggie."

All the tension drained out of her then, and she dropped limply down onto the bed opposite him. "And I don't know how to handle them," she admitted softly. "You want to just go with it, but I'm not built like that."

Cautiously moving over to sit behind her on the other bed, Quinn placed a gentle hand on her arm. "Still not quite over Steven?" he asked softly.

She shook her head and turned towards him. "No, that was just an excuse I used at first," she said. "Losing him was so hard for me; for the longest time, I never wanted to go through that again."

"Do you now?" Quinn asked nonjudgmentally.

But Maggie could still hear his thoughts: _I want her, so much. Even if she wants me, if she won't let herself feel it…_ "I…" she said on a shuddering breath. "I want to try."

Sensing her thoughts as well – _God, I don't know what I'm doing, what if I screw things up? What if **he** screws things up? He could hurt me so bad…_ – Quinn said, "I promise to try not to hurt you, Maggie." He wrapped a comforting arm around her waist and she leaned into reflexively.

_To try, huh? Guess that's all anybody can do,_ she thought, and he was pretty sure she'd directed that at him on purpose, since out loud she only said, "Then let's do it."

Giving her a sweet smile, he acted on both their mental urges and kissed her. Warm, soft, and filled with only a desire to be together instead of the heated passion which colored most of their thoughts of each other…it was perfection.

Breaking apart, Quinn whispered against her passion-swollen lips, "That's not all we can do…"

_…we can love,_ they thought together.

* * *

THE END


End file.
